Opinion
2013-08642
03-18-2015
Karen LITTLETON, appellant, v. AMBERLAND OWNERS, INC., defendant, Klein & Folchetti, P.C., nonparty-respondent.
Karen Littleton, Peekskill, N.Y., appellant pro se.
Karen Littleton, Peekskill, N.Y., appellant pro se.
Opinion
In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the plaintiff appeals from an order of the Supreme Court, Westchester County (O. Bellantoni, J.), entered July 23, 2013, which, inter alia, granted the motion of the nonparty-respondent, Klein & Folchetti, P.C., to impose a charging lien pursuant to Judiciary Law § 475 in the sum of $48,030.83 against certain settlement proceeds and directed counsel for the defendant to make immediate payment of $48,030.83 to the nonparty-respondent from the settlement proceeds.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.“Where an attorney's withdrawal from a case is justifiable, the attorney is entitled to recover for services rendered on the basis of quantum meruit and to impose a retaining lien on the file or a charging lien on the proceeds of the judgment” (Kahn v. Kahn, 186 A.D.2d 719, 720, 588 N.Y.S.2d 658 ; see Klein v. Eubank, 87 N.Y.2d 459, 462, 640 N.Y.S.2d 443, 663 N.E.2d 599 ). Here, contrary to the plaintiff's contention, the nonparty-respondent, Klien & Folchetti, P.C., established good cause to withdraw as her counsel (see Ferdico v. Zweig, 82 A.D.3d 1151, 1153, 919 N.Y.S.2d 521 ; Winters v. Rise Steel Erection Corp., 231 A.D.2d 626, 627, 647 N.Y.S.2d 962 ). Moreover, under the circumstances of this case, the Supreme Court properly determined that the sum of $48,030.83 was a reasonable attorney's fee (see Breidbart v. Wiesenthal, 117 A.D.3d 766, 767, 985 N.Y.S.2d 719 ).
DILLON, J.P., DICKERSON, CHAMBERS and ROMAN, JJ., concur.